Interviews(England) with 18-year-old boys

• • Hermione Hoby
  • The Observer, Sunday 15 August 2010
  • Article history

Jordan Campbell, trainee fireman at Norbury Fire Station, London. Photograph: Karen Robinson for the Observer

Jordan Campbell, the firefighter from south London: 'I have always looked to a better world'

People have different reasons for going off the rails but I've always looked to a better world and, the way I see it, there's never a reason to do wrong. I was in care since I was about three weeks old, but I've never been arrested or anything like that and people from my background usually are. I've been around so many people like that, but I've kept my head straight and I've done my own thing and now I'm joining the fire brigade.

I'm more understanding now than when I was young. When I was young no one would explain to me the reasons for things. That's how social services are. They'll do things and they won't fill you in and then your social worker will just leave. Getting to know that you're not safe around so many people at an age like that can really mess up your head, but I've learned to overcome myself a lot. I've been round different types of people, good and bad.

Every school's got bullies. I didn't get bullied that badly, just childish things. I never bunked off, never, because I had no life at home. The first high school I went to closed down because it was so crap and the bad education there messed me up. There was a fight every day in the classroom, everyone had knives. My friend stabbed me in the hand as a joke and I've still got the scar. Did I forgive him? Yeah, it's not really a big problem. People put a label on you, I've noticed that as well, that's one thing that makes it hard to be 18. If I was in a group of 30 white people walking down Oxford Street, no one would say anything, but if I was wearing a hoodie and with 30 black people, the armed police would have stopped us before we'd taken 10 steps.

I'm kind of sarcastic sometimes and teachers didn't like that. There was one teacher who was gay and I'd joke around with it sometimes. Once he was telling me off and in front of the whole class I said, "All right, sir, I accept your apology" and he was confused for a bit. I would annoy people like that on purpose. I got on with all my teachers though. The attitude at school was "just turn up", but then again if you don't choose to prepare yourself for exams, teachers can't be blamed for that. Some people do need to be pushed but really it's only you that can push yourself to do well. People always have a choice in life. Some people just aren't choosing the right path. In my GCSEs I got a D in English, a D in maths, and a C in science. But I redeemed myself: I got certificates for adult English and adult numeracy and a first-aid certificate. Then I went to college.

If I could go back and do school again I'd have a different attitude. I'd focus more on what I wanted instead of expecting something to come forth for me. Some guys say they don't know what they want to be when they're older and they expect things just to fall in place, but it can't work like that. When I was a kid I wanted to be tall and good-looking – and it came true!

Yaw Asamoah, of St Mellons Cardiff, outside the church he attends near his home. Photograph: Gareth Everett/Huw Evans Agency

Yaw Asamoah, the optimist from Cardiff: 'Mum is trying to have faith in me, but it's hard for her'

I was born in Ghana and my family moved to Cardiff when I was about one. I went to primary school in this country and then when I was nine I went back to Ghana to live with my dad until I was 12.

When I returned to school here I did find it quite a shock. They have a lot of resources here in Cardiff and obviously they put a lot of money into the schools. As for Ghana, you had to pay school fees in order to qualify for learning. My dad worked with the church there as a minister so I didn't have to pay anything – but I saw other kids get kicked out of school because their parents couldn't pay.

Ghana isn't a very rich country, so the kids are more motivated to do the things that they want, whereas here children have so many opportunities that they feel like they're pretty much set. At secondary school I hung around people who did work hard, and the ones that didn't I tried to avoid in case they kind of rubbed off on me. They were also the troublemakers.

Back in Ghana I felt more at home, but when I came here I felt like I had more opportunities so I can't really decide which I like more. But it doesn't matter because I want to go to Japan anyway and get a job animating – I'm studying graphic design at college at the moment. God gave me the skills of creation and stuff so I can go into this animation business, and then added to that there's my passion for it. I think it's a set destiny for me so that's why I'm not really worried about how difficult it is to get a job. I am a pretty optimistic guy too.

Kieran Webber, an 18 year old student, pictured on Whipsiderry beach, Newquay, Cornwall. Photograph: Jim Wileman

My mum is concerned about me wanting to be an animator – what with the credit crunch, she wants me to get a more secure job. She's a nurse and she wants me to be a doctor or a pharmacist – something that will pay well, that's in high demand. But the thing is, I know she means well, but that's just not for me. We do have a good relationship, but when she brings that up it saddens me a bit. It's like she's trying to have faith in me but it's hard for her. And I'm trying to tell her that it will all be OK – I will find something.

Kieran Webber, the surfer from Cornwall: 'Unless I break my back or lose a leg, I'll surf for ever'

When I was in secondary school I was a bit of an idiot. I'd muck around, I used to talk all the time. I just wasn't really interested in anything in school. I found it all a bore and a joke and fully took the mick. The worst thing I probably did was skateboard through the school hall, one side to the other, when everyone was eating. I remember one teacher telling me: "You're a clever lad but you just never knew how to use it" and it was obviously quite annoying for them because they knew I could do well but I just had no intention in doing so. In my stupidity, I didn't revise for my GCSEs, thinking I'd base it on my natural knowledge. Eventually I've realised that life's a bit more serious than skating through a hall and answering back.

Girls are definitely better behaved. I think they mature faster, so they have a different mind-set. I've always thought girls have been more settled with their heads down. We were sat boy/girl/boy/girl at my school because it got so bad: the girls were literally sat to break us up. It was really effective because you don't want to look like an idiot in front of a girl. If I could go back and talk to my 16-year-old self, I'd say: "You've been an idiot now, you've had your fun. Get your head down, open a few books and read and just revise, revise, revise. Trust me, mate, it's going to be better in the long run."

Harry Thorne at home in Ipswich. Photograph: Karen Robinson for the Observer

The moment I caught my first wave I was hooked, I just loved it from that moment. I was about 15 and I had to keep it going. The rush when you go down that wave is incredible. Plus, you look pretty good when you walk out of the sea with a board and in a wet suit. Unless I break my back or lose my leg, I'll do it for ever.

One of my teachers, Mr Wilson, is a bit of a role model, I've looked up to him over the past year or so. He was the head of business at my school [Treviglas College] at the time, but he was also the head of Newquay Surf Academy and he said the course was perfect for me - the modules count towards a place at Plymouth University to do surf science and technology. There's elements of sport, biology, travel, marine science thrown in, all sorts of crazy stuff. You surf twice a week and that's compulsory - I was pretty happy when they said that. I never thought I could really do something through surfing, that I could really use something I love and be what I wanted to be. I would absolutely love to have my own surf shop down here, but I'd put a unique twist on it and do surf tours around the UK. I've had my eyes opened to learning about something you're interested in. Learning is the key and knowledge is the power. Now I walk out of each lesson knowing I've learned something - I never had that at school. Treviglas was a good school but I got this idea that they wanted everyone to leave wearing a suit, and for a lot of people down here it's not what they want - they want to walk out wearing a wet suit, not an Armani suit.

Thayyab Amhed, near his home in Redbridge, Essex. Photograph: Sonja Horsman for the Observer

Harry Thorne, the scholar from Ipswich: 'There's more of a negative view towards guys than girls'

I'm working hard, but I think I've found the right balance between work and socialising and all the extracurricular stuff – it's taken years, but I think I've got it. I'm fairly motivated but I think that's just how I am – I always work hard when it's something that I enjoy, but I'm less committed to something that I don't see a point in. I'd say that teachers pay more attention to the guys in making sure they work, so in that sense, there is more of a negative view towards them. There's also an overemphasis on keeping guys in line, whereas with the girls they overlook [bad behaviour] and don't expect it from them.

I think things might have been different if I hadn't gone to a school – the way that my character is, I think that if I'd been allowed more freedom, which I presume I might have got at a state school, then I don't think I would have achieved as much as I have. I work harder with compliments and respect and gaining good grades. I've just accepted that's how I work, and that's what I strive for. Ideally I'd like to go to Cambridge, but that's ideally. I am still holding out hope for the ideal ending to the school situation, as in, I think if I can get the work done, then I can achieve the Cambridge thing.

Thayyab Ahmed, the lad from Gloucestershire: 'If kids had more responsibility they wouldn't turn to drugs'

At this age you're caught in the middle because you're not quite a kid but you're not treated as an adult, even though on paper you are one. The whole time I've been in school I've been waiting to leave, absolutely looking forward to the moment, but when it happened it was actually quite saddening. If I was given a choice to go back and do another year at school I'd take it because as soon as you leave you realise you can't really mess about, that you're never going to be a schoolboy again. I suppose I'm reluctant to grow up. But I guess everyone's got to sometime.

Devon Gadsby at a park near his home in Chelmsford. Photograph: Karen Robinson for the Observer

My parents and I differ on quite a lot of things. They're Muslim and when my dad was younger he was really driven: he moved over here from India when he was 16 and he barely spoke the language so he spent most of his youth trying to catch up with people who were born here. But I've got quite a cushty life so I'm maybe less focused than he was. When he sees me going out and messing about, he'll say "you should be doing something useful" because that's what he was doing at that age.

His circumstances were very different to mine so he can't really relate to me and sometimes I can't relate to him. He's a manager in an aerospace company. It sounds interesting on paper, but if you met him you'd think he's quite boring. I'm one of five so my mum has a kind of full-time housewife duty. I was brought up in a religious way and I do identify myself as a Muslim but I don't have the strength to do some of the things. In my mind, I'll become more religious when I get older and a bit more mature, but at this age, it's quite hard. At this age everyone's out to have a good time and things just happen spontaneously.

I'm going to university in October, to do economics at Warwick, but I'm not sure if I want to go yet. If I was less clever I'd probably work harder: because I know I can get away with it I don't really push myself. I'm one of those people who can take the textbook out a couple of weeks before the exam and learn everything then – I didn't do the hard work at school but I got the grades in the end. It was a boys' grammar and boys will be boys: there was a lot of laddish behaviour.

I think people my age expect too much. In modern society everything's done for you. If kids our age had a bit more responsibility they wouldn't turn to drugs or crime. A hundred years ago boys finished school and went to work and they had a sense of responsibilty - responsibility acts as a dampener on attitudes. It's because we've got nothing to do that we feel we have to do something to define ourselves - to do crazy things from time to time to make ourselves stand out. I've been in trouble with the police a few times but I've got no regrets - even stupid stuff that I've done, I just think at least I've done it, at least I know better now. I like learning things the hard way, that's the only way to do it. I can't stand someone else telling me not to do something. It's all about experience, good or bad, that's what life's about really. We're making it up as we go along and that's the best thing about being young.

Devon Gadsby, the drifter from Essex: 'I'm praying for a big break'

I didn't really go to school that much, I bunked off quite a lot because I thought I had better stuff to do. It's so stupid that I thought going out with my friends and sitting in the park was more important. If we had money, and found some mug stupid enough to buy it for us, then we would drink – but not a lot of the time. My parents thought I was going to school. Sometimes I'd get caught and the school would tell my parents, but most of the time they didn't know. I didn't really think about what was after school. I think I'd have tried to do better and go to school more, but bunking off was so easy to get away with. You'd just walk out of the gate and that was it. I got four Gs at GCSE, it's really poor.

I got on with my teachers really well – on a personal level as well. But none of it interested me enough to keep me there. That's the same with jobs – if I'm not interested then I'm not going to do it. I don't just go to work for money. I worked at a barber's for a bit, but I felt like they were treating me like a proper cock. Now I look back and realise it was just me complaining about everything. It was just harmless banter, but I didn't take it too well, so I left.

Money's important to me but I have no idea at all how I'm going to make it. I'm just praying I'll have a big break or something, 'cos at the moment I'm going round to hairdressers trying to get a job at any of them